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Data Is Like Water:Capitalize or CapsizeBusiness Discovery for Everyone

CITO ResearchAdvancing the Craft of Technology Leadership

March 2012

Sponsored by QlikView

Contents

Introduction 1

Capitalizing on the Big Catch 1

Capitalizing on Water Data to Keep World Economies Afloat 3

Business Discovery Is For Everyone 6

Conclusion 7

1Data is Like Water: Capitalize or CapsizeBusiness Discovery for Everyone


IntroductionEveryone on the planet is swimming in an ocean of data. Within this ocean is an al-most unimaginable array of useful information being generated by a multitude of sources—everything from buoys on the ocean to RFID tags on the smallest packages. The press focuses on certain aspects of the global data culture, such as the latest fi-nancial product innovation on Wall Street or data-mining algorithms that track con-sumers’ every move on the Web. But data isn’t just for whiz kids, rocket scientists, or marketing gurus. With the right tools, everyone can benefit from data, because data can be turned into insight, and insight can be turned into action that changes lives.

Right now, using a self-service business intelligence (BI) platform called Business Dis-covery, people all over the world are using data to achieve unprecedented goals. They are improving the way they work, understanding the complex forces that shape glob-al markets, and even saving lives by using data in new ways. These are the new pio-neers. They are gaining powerful new insights, as data, alive in context, opens minds to new possibilities and solutions never before considered. Those who don’t harness data productively are putting themselves at competitive risk.

Data will be as important to improving and sustaining life on the planet in the 21st century as water always has been. CITO Research has unearthed two very different water stories that exemplify the power of Business Discovery for everyone.

Capitalizing on the Big CatchThe fishing industry is under intense pressure to reduce its environmental impact. The productivity of any given fishing season can be affected by weather events such as El Niño and La Niña. Shortened seasons and stricter quotas1 are increasing the need for highly specific and actionable data. The UK “black landings” scandal2, in which fish-ing companies disguised more than £63 million in illegal, over-quota catches, under-scores the economic difficulty.

1 Stephen Rappaport, “Maine Fishermen’s Forum Is Harbinger of Spring and More,” Fenceviewer, 27 Feb. 2012. (http://fenceviewer.com/site/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=72575:maine-fishermen%E2%80%99s-forum-is-harbinger-of-spring-and-more&Itemid=938)

2 Severin Carrell, “Fishing Skippers and Factory Fined Nearly £1m for Illegal Catches,” The Guardian, 24 Feb. 2012. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/24/fishing-skippers-fined-illegal-catches?newsfeed=true)



Off the coast of Peru, fishers are trolling the ocean of data, and the Pacific Ocean, to bring the right fish to the right market at the right time. They work for Copeinca, one of the world’s leading producers of fishmeal, a powder made from anchovies that is used in a variety of animal products. Copeinca has 26 boats, 5 processing plants, and 1,400 employees. The company recorded $233 million in revenue in 2010 but also reported losses due to tighter regulations and poor weather.

Each Copeinca fishing boat uses GPS and radio transmissions to report on the qual-ity, quantity, and location of the optimal catch. The company’s warehouses, at several ports on the coast of Peru, track the number of fish in storage. The wholesale markets produce pricing data on real-time electronic feeds. To command the best price, the fishers must respond quickly to changing conditions. The moving parts include the schools of fish themselves (or “biomass”), weather, market price, and warehouse in-ventory levels. They also must factor in fuel costs and the time of laborers at port and onboard to determine which fish should be caught when (and where) and to which port they should be taken. Miscalculating any of these factors can result in a devastat-ing financial loss, as well as unnecessary equipment wear and tear and worker fatigue.

Business Discovery balances many factors to help bring in the big catch

Fuel Cost

Quality Control

Market Price

WeatherInventory Biomass Location

Equipment Wear

er

t



Braving the “Perfect Storm” for Business SuccessWith Business Discovery, the fishers can:

• Pinpoint the best fishing zones for the fleet to visit next by analyzing the catch of the previous day in each zone

• Keep a close eye on the running cost of an expedition, by monitoring time spent, inventory levels, and fuel expenditures

• Maintain quality control and maximize return on the fishmeal stock by ejecting the portion of the catch likely to be rejected by a processing plant

• Find the best destination for each catch, based on a continuous evaluation of plant capacity, delays in processing, travel time to the plant, and water depth at each port

• Optimize routing of boats to each plant by tracking port assignments

On each ship, the fishers receive this data and load it into their Business Discovery platform every three minutes, cross-referencing raw data feeds with information from SAP R/3. They use market-price data to obtain the best prices for the highest quanti-ties of fish.

Every day they hit the Pacific, the fishers of Copeinca face a “perfect storm” of diffi-cult environmental conditions, a shrinking supply, and regulatory scrutiny. Because of Business Discovery, the fishers can set out with increased confidence, improved process efficiency and resource allocation, and a competitive edge, all while operat-ing under tough quota requirements. When they finally return to port, they can sleep well with no worry about “the one that got away.”

Capitalizing on Water Data to Keep World Economies AfloatAnother group of data explorers is trolling the lakes of data to improve the world’s fresh water supply, using new data-exploration techniques to uncover powerful new insights about the critical relationships between population, policy, and the sustain-ability of life on earth. Circle of Blue is an international network of concerned journal-ists and scientists who report on the Earth’s diminishing clean water supply.



Circle of Blue uses Business Discovery to deliver compelling insights about the re-lationship between climate change, human population, industry, policy, and water, often in new, interactive ways with unprecedented levels of granularity and clarity.

In a survey called WaterViews, Circle of Blue showcased its fresh water findings to the World Economic Forum and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2009.

WaterViews

Why does this survey matter? The WaterViews survey is a mouthpiece for people around the world who see the fresh water crisis as the planet’s top environmental problem. In many cases, the real experiences of people aren’t reflected in government policy. Using the survey to highlight the disconnect between citizens and govern-ment can help change the policies. It can also highlight information that has broad implications for the future. For example, Circle of Blue is analyzing climate change in the Great Lakes region, which provides the world with 20% of its fresh water—the largest single source in the world. If the pollution, chemical, and wildlife issues sur-rounding the water sources aren’t addressed, there are serious risks to economies and populations not just in the region, but worldwide.

After surveying 15,000 people in 15 countries, Circle of Blue found that:

• 93% say that water pollution is a very serious (72%) or somewhat serious (21%) problem.

• 91% believe that a shortage of fresh water is a very serious (71%) or somewhat serious (20%) problem.

Conducted in partnership with GlobeScan, the WaterViews report is the most com-prehensive of its kind to date, using Business Discovery to create interactive charts, maps, and graphs that deliver visually impactful, detailed findings for each country.



Circle of Blue infographic created using Business Discovery

Many of the 40 multinational corporations in the World Economic Forum now use WaterViews to guide their own policies, both to mitigate risk to their supply chains and to innovate new solutions that help both their businesses and the planet.

China’s Water Policies: A Global Risk VectorCircle of Blue also used Business Discovery to create an interactive graphic report called Choke Point China, which shows the effect of China’s economic and industrial policies on both its own water supply and that of the rest of the world. Through this

UNITED KINGDOM

Population: 61,113 205GDP/Person: $36,600Tap water: 100%APW: 119 L/day

UNITED STATES

Population: 307,212,123GDP/Person: $47,000Tap water: 100%APW: 570 L/day

INDIA

Population: 1,166,079,217GDP/Person: $2,800Tap water: 19%APW: 128 L/day

CHINA

Population: 1,338,812,968GDP/Person: $6,000Tap water: 69%APW: 80 L/day

CANADA


MEXICO


RUSSIA


Sources: UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme; World Health Organization; CIA World Factbook. National Land andWater Resources Audit; Ministry of Water Resources, China; FAO Aquastat; Eurostat Yearbook; US Geological Survey

“We are finding things we never imagined. Today, when we’re dealing with major global challenges, it’s really important to be able to sift through data quickly, but also to be open to new conclusions.”

– J. Paul Ganter, Director and Co-Founder, Circle of Blue



research, Circle of Blue learned that the relationship between water and energy is the biggest impediment to China’s continued GDP growth. China’s expanding industrial sector consumes a great deal of energy, which has spurred the government to tap into its coal reserves. Coal mining is extremely water intensive, and China already con-sumes 70% of the world’s water.

Circle of Blue extended its use of Business Discovery into its partnership with China, sharing technologies and policies that can help solve common clean water challeng-es. For the first time, data visualizations illustrate the connection between rising ener-gy demands in places such as China and diminishing freshwater reserves around the world. Previously, it was hard to see the correlation, because teams of environmental-ists and scientists had isolated views of the data. Now, with information from various global water and energy issues in one place, the picture of energy consumption and its effects on clean water comes into sharp focus.

Finding Critical, Unanticipated MessagesWith Business Discovery, online WaterViews visitors can compare and contrast public opinion data in a number of new ways—country-specific, year-over year compari-sons, and through a wealth of statistics about fresh water shortage, water pollution, water-related illnesses, and overall water usage. News organizations can then display and stage the findings of the global survey in previously unavailable ways, making complex data much easier to interact with and understand.

“Just pulling facts and comparing different countries and demographics is important,” says J. Carl Ganter, co-founder and director of Circle of Blue. “But what’s really poten-tially transformative is when you’re able to look at this information in multiple dimen-sions.” By using Business Discovery, Circle of Blue was able to find unanticipated, hid-den messages in the data where critical issues of climate change, government policy, industrial activity, and population movements intersect.

Business Discovery Is For EveryoneBusiness Discovery is for everyone, and it’s an important tool for navigating the ocean of data. Unlike traditional BI tools, which require writing complex queries to retrieve data in reports from databases, Business Discovery gives everyone tailored insights that meet their unique needs and timelines, visualized in graphics that really drive the story home.



Business Discovery is all about giving people the freedom and flexibility to explore any data, from anywhere, at any time—it’s robust and secure, yet app-driven, light, and mobile, so it carries information wherever it’s needed. Anyone can start asking questions and gaining insight right away.

Information can change the world. Data is an untapped resource. It can amaze you in ways you haven’t imagined. It can make you more productive, profitable, secure, and happy. It can change the face of business and help make the world a better place.

Conclusion

Data is the new frontier, a vast ocean. The 20th-century mindset favored experts ask-ing questions, with answers in an expected shape, in the form of reports. The 21st cen-tury mindset rewards user-driven innovation, breaking down barriers and silos that isolate information and planning for serendipity. When we let go of old paradigms, we gain new insights. We won’t just ask better questions of the data we’ve already collected; we’ll gather data we never would have thought to gather before, because we now know we can make it useful. The answers we find will surprise and delight us and make a tangible difference in the world. We can answer the complex questions being asked of business and society and capitalize on those answers. This is Business Discovery, and it’s for everyone.

This paper was sponsored by QlikView and created by CITO Research

CITO ResearchCITO Research is a source of news, analysis, research, and knowledge for CIOs, CTOs, and other IT and business professioals. CITO Research engages in a dialogue with its audience to capture technology trends that are harvested, analyzed, and communicated in a sophisticated way to help practitioners solve difficult business problems.

“When we let go of old paradigms, we gain new insights.”

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Data Is Like Water: Capitalize or Capsizego.qlikview.com/rs/qliktech/images/GLBL_2012_H1_CITO_Capitalize... · Circle of Blue infographic created using Business Discovery Many of